


Hey, You, In the Dark

by Jackie_Gaytona



Category: What We Do in the Shadows (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gift, M/M, Post massacre, nandermo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28372920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackie_Gaytona/pseuds/Jackie_Gaytona
Summary: The bat came straight for them, flapping wildly. Even in the murky darkness, Guillermo somehow knew it was Nandor.---Gift for Freydient as part of the wwdits gift exchange!
Relationships: Guillermo de la Cruz/Nandor the Relentless
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62
Collections: non-denominational winter celebrational fandom gift exchangional extravaganza





	Hey, You, In the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [freydient](https://archiveofourown.org/users/freydient/gifts).



> Gift for Freydient as part of the wwdits gift exchange!! I hope you like it!
> 
> Sorry for the screwed up paragraph formatting D:

After the massacre, Guillermo could only think of one place to take the vampires to ensure their safety. He navigated the wet streets of Staten Island, taking a route that, of late, was becoming more and more familiar. Frequently he’d check behind him, out the back windshield, for any signs of pursuers (this was made more difficult by the fact that vampires don’t have reflections, so he had to twist his body and look behind while waiting in traffic, straining to see past his companions’ heads). Hopefully his unexpected appearance and subsequent slaughter had disoriented the theatre-goers just long enough to allow them an unhindered escape.

They were silent during the drive; even Colin Robinson, who sat beside Guillermo in the passenger’s seat. The other three were in the back, huddled together closer than need be, no doubt using each other’s presence as quiet comfort. The radio was off; Guillermo had considered turning it on in an effort to stay awake but then decided he needed all his senses at full attention. Despite the exhaustion creeping into his bones, and the helpless fluttering of his eyes as sleep lured him in, he was still on alert, waiting for a vampire to fall onto the hood at any moment.

He didn’t begin to relax until they pulled into the small gravelled square that served as a parking lot, surrounded on three sides by chunky, mostly-abandoned brick buildings. It had been raining when they’d left the theatre, but out here on the outskirts of the city, the rain had weakened to a misty drizzle.

Judging by the van parked near the ramp leading to the large steel door, the others were already here. Guillermo had called Shanice the moment he’d started the car’s ignition and asked her to round up the others and meet him at the headquarters. Now, a lone, slight figure stood by the heavy loading-dock door and waited for them. The vampires followed Guillermo at a safe distance, eyes darting around cautiously and with uncertainty. He’d never seen them so cowed, and yet he didn’t feel arrogant, or proud, or even powerful. His heart clenched in a consuming mix of dread and sorrow.

“Jesus, Guillermo,” Shanice said when he ascended the ramp and she spotted the blood and gore sprayed over his coat – thick globs that even the rain couldn’t wash away. Below, the vampires hissed quietly, unable to help themselves. Guillermo wanted to roll his eyes, but then the girl’s little arms were around him, pulling him into a close hug. Guillermo kept his hands by his side, grimacing a little despite the warmth that flooded through his chest at the simple touch; Shanice would no doubt come away streaked with vampire innards. After a moment she broke the embrace, held him at arm’s length, and looked him over from head to toe. “Are you hurt? What happened? Wait, come inside. We’ll catch a cold out here.” She spun around and went to work sliding the door open with all her strength. Guillermo’s lips twitched, threatening a smile, as he came up beside her and helped. Briefly he thought back to the first time he’d tried to open this door, and that smile almost came to fruition. He’d grown a lot stronger since that first fateful night, now sliding the huge door open with relative ease.

Warm light spilled out onto the ramp, and Guillermo took a deep breath. He turned to his vampiric companions, who were huddled together and swathed in the shadows, and gave a single nod.

Seeing the Mosquito Club for the first time since the retro vampire house filled Guillermo with both relief and concern. Relief, because this was one of the only places he felt a sense of security and belonging; concern, because the three faces that looked back at him questioningly were not the faces of vampire slayers. They were average, everyday humans. No; worse than that, they were amateurs...plunged into a profession and a world that did not accommodate beginners. They had no idea what was out there at this very moment; no idea what danger Guillermo had put them all in.

“What happened?” Tonya asked quietly, though it was probably already clear from the mess covering Guillermo and the snippets he’d told Shanice over the phone. The wannabe vampire-slayers took up their seats and waited, eyes wide in a fearful sort of curiosity.

Guillermo stayed where he was, hands limp at his sides, shoulders slumped. He gave a tiny shrug and opened his mouth to speak. But before he could utter his first word, a loud, obstinate voice echoed through the cavernous room.

“My familiar slaughtered an entire fucking theatre of vampires, that’s what!”

Guillermo shut his eyes and gritted his teeth. “ _ Nandor _ …”

“Familiar?” Shanice piped up, and her eyes moved to the tall, dark, handsome Iranian guy that stood beside Guillermo. Nandor was sporting his signature empty-headed grimace. They spotted his fangs immediately. Claude swore and leapt to his feet, though instead of lunging forward in an attack, he stumbled back, knocking over his chair. Tonya clutched at the sides of her own chair, eyes wide and unblinking. Shanice seemed calmer, though her face had gone even paler than usual.

Guillermo put up his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s okay,” he said in his most soothing voice. “They’re harmless. Really.”

“I don’t know, I’m rather hungry,” Laszlo quipped.

Guillermo turned briefly to glare at him.

“They’re…they’re  _ vampires _ ?” Tonya asked, as though it hadn’t been kind of obvious from the moment they’d walked inside, what with their unusual attire and varying hisses. “Why did you bring them  _ here _ ?”

“They’re in danger,” Guillermo said quickly, palms still up. “ _ I’m  _ in danger. This is the safest place we could be right now.”

Shanice scoffed quietly at that, then looked to her companions pointedly. They didn’t exactly make the toughest bodyguards.

“I know this must come as a shock,” Guillermo continued. “And I know I have a lot of explaining to do. But I’ve been living with these guys for eleven years. And I…” he trailed off, swallowed, glanced behind his shoulder at the vampires before turning back and finishing. “Well, I care about them. They’re good people – uh –”

“So let me get this straight,” Claude said, retrieving his chair and slowly sitting. “You’re a  _ familiar _ , to a  _ vampire _ , but you slay vampires in your free time?”

“Yes, this is news to us, too!” Nadja complained loudly, fists balled at her sides.

“Who are these people, Guillermo?” Nandor whined. “Are these your slaughtery friends? Do you go around killy-killing all the vampires with them?”

Guillermo groaned inwardly. He wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower (little chance of that happening tonight), change into clean clothes, find a bed to collapse on and blankets to crawl under, and just sleep for the next week.

He walked towards one of the chairs, took a seat, and then beckoned the vampires with a hand. The tension over their heads seemed to tighten. The vampires watched the humans with poorly-disguised caginess, while the humans watched the vampires with wide, morbidly-curious eyes.

“I guess introductions are in order,” Guillermo said tiredly.

*****

The Mosquito Club’s headquarters were situated in what used to be a warehouse, which was later converted to some kind of boarding house, and then later converted to a community centre that was operated partly by Claude’s mom. Guillermo had never really explored the rest of the center, so he was surprised to find that there was a small kitchenette (equipped with kettle, toaster, microwave and fridge – not to mention cookies and tea), a couple of bunks, and a shared bathroom that featured, among the usual bathroom things, a line of shower cubicles. Guillermo thanked his lucky stars for this, and then every God he could think of when he turned on a faucet and noted there was hot water.

The closest thing to a towel he could find was a handtowel in one of the cupboards in the kitchenette, but at this point he didn’t care. He didn’t even care that he’d be spending the night wandering around in his boxers and undershirt, completely open to attack; a big, soft, squishy target. In fact, with the physical and emotional exhaustion of the night tugging him further and further into oblivion, he didn’t think he’d even bother putting up much of a fight if he were attacked. Hopefully the security and obscure location of the windowless section of the warehouse would protect the vampires until the dust settled. And then…

…Guillermo was far too tired to think of a ‘ _ then’ _ . He peeled off his bloodied clothes and all but melted beneath the steaming shower stream.

*********

They’d offered brief introductions before Guillermo took off for his shower. He’d assured them all that they were in safe hands, yet when he came back to the hall, it looked like a cliché junior dance; only instead of the boys and girls being separated on either side of the hall, it was vampires vs humans. The humans were seated, at least. And Colin Robinson was filling the silence with his usual monotonous droning; wandering around the perimeter of the mostly-empty hall, presumably admiring the walls’ smooth, bland bricks as he rattled on about the differences in quality between several ballpoint pens.

At first glance, Guillermo barely even noticed their missing companion, and had to do a double-take. The vampire side of the hall was down one member.

“Where’s Nandor?” he asked, and all heads suddenly swivelled to him. Guillermo tried to hide his sudden blush; he was down to his underclothes, but at least they were clean of blood (there wasn’t much he could do about the sweat stains, unfortunately).

Nadja and Laszlo exchanged nervous, wide-eyed glances, and Guillermo’s stomach dropped almost painfully. When Nadja looked back at him and spoke, her words mimicked the words that were already running through Guillermo’s head.

“He’s gone back to the house?” she said slowly, as though asking a question. “To get some things?” Her lips stretched back into a grimace, showing her fangs. It was clear that she and Laszlo, and probably the others, were expecting an outburst for the ages. But Guillermo had used all his outburst energy to protect his vampires; to save their _lives_ (or un-lives), and now the one vampire he cared about the most; the one he’d spent eleven years waiting on and doting over and falling ass-over-teakettle in love with despite his entire being screaming at him not to; was out there putting himself in terrible danger just for a few material belongings?

Yes, he wanted to scream.

Yes, he wanted to rage.

Instead he simply crumpled to the floor, put his head in his hands, and wept.

*****

He sat outside with Shanice, tears still drying on his face. The others were inside, probably staring awkwardly at each other, probably being lulled into a nice sleep by one generous energy vampire. But Guillermo wasn’t in the mood for playing devil’s (or even angel’s) advocate anymore, so he let them be for now. Once Nandor got back (if Guillermo didn’t stake him in the heart ‘by accident’ first), they would organise sleeping arrangements and he would continue to try to assure his mosquito brethren that their butts, despite being deliciously virginal, were safe.

“I’m sure he’s…fine,” Shanice said at length, awkwardly fidgeting with her hands. They sat on the loading dock, huddled together for warmth and comfort; legs swinging off the platform, not quite reaching the gravelly ground. Claude had lent Guillermo his jacket, so at least he was fairly warm from the waist up. There wasn’t much he could do about his legs, though. The cold breeze was presently assaulting them, tickling through his leg hair. The concrete platform was like ice beneath his ass.

“It’s not just that,” he said impatiently. “He’s putting us all at risk. Somebody could follow him back.” He touched the wooden stake that lay at his side; ran his fingers over the polished surface for comfort. “And what if he gets  _ lost _ ?”

“He’s a vampire,” Shanice said with some caution in her voice. “Vampires are clever, right?”

Guillermo laughed. The sound bubbled out of him unbidden, coupled with a fresh sting of tears. “Nandor once got lost at a Trader Joe’s while I was shopping. The checkout lady had to call my name over the speaker unit.” A dreadful, dark sort of amusement had taken hold of him and he sniffled. “I hope Staten Island is easier to navigate from up in the sky, because…” he let the sentence hang.

“I wish you’d told us,” Shanice said, not unkindly. “We could have helped you. We…we could have helped your friends.”

_ You could have gotten yourself killed,  _ Guillermo thought bitterly,  _ that’s all you could have done.  _ Nevermind there was the whole thing about Nadja turning Jenna that Guillermo was  _ definitely _ not going to touch on tonight. Preferably not ever. Shanice probably wouldn’t have used the word  _ friends _ if she’d known that tidbit of information.

He tried to think of something soothing to respond with, but before he could come up with anything, something fluttered in the darkness ahead. Guillermo was off the platform and on his feet in an instant, holding the stake firmly, at the ready. The bat came straight for them, flapping wildly. Even in the murky darkness, Guillermo somehow knew it was Nandor. He didn’t let his guard down, though; not until the vampire assumed his human form, thirty yards away. He came towards them, cape flapping, brow furrowed, teeth gritted, as if moving with some great purpose. Shanice let out a little yelp and stiffened under the intensity of the vampire’s stare. She didn’t know that that was just Nandor’s normal walking-face. She didn’t know that he probably pulled that face because he was on high alert for any slippery pieces of gravel underfoot. Guillermo exhaled loudly and glanced at the tiny lady sitting beside him.

“Go inside,” he said gently. “Before you catch a cold.”

That was all the excuse she needed. As Nandor approached his ex-familiar, Shanice hurried back inside, this time not even struggling with the door. Guillermo watched her go, and then, with some reluctance, turned to look at Nandor. His heart stuttered. Last time they’d talked, their lives – their relationship – had been profoundly different.

Nandor watched the big steel door slide shut. The light inside caught his eyes momentarily and they sparkled. He looked a little wistful.

“She could make you happy,” he said pensively.

Guillermo scoffed and shook his head. He was beginning to realise just how little his housemates of eleven years actually knew about him. “I, uh, am strictly into guys,” he said. “Uh.  _ Vampire _ guys. One…” he dropped his voice to a mumble, embarrassed and surprised at himself. “…One vampire guy.”

Nandor’s mouth twitched, but his reaction was unreadable. He reached into his cape and only then did Guillermo see the duffel bag wedged under his arm. The vampire took it out and offered it to him.

“I got you some things,” he said sheepishly. His eyes dropped briefly to the stake still clutched in Guillermo’s hand. Guillermo quickly tossed it onto the dock and took the bag.

“That was a stupid thing to do,” he admonished, though his voice was weak with exhaustion and unshed tears.

“Bring you fresh clothings?” Nandor frowned.

“Going back to the house!” he said, exasperated. “I don’t care about clothes, Nandor. I…I care about  _ you _ .”  _ God knows why _ , he added in his head. “You could have been captured. Hurt.”

“Well, you’re welcome, Guillermo!” Nandor snapped petulantly, voice suddenly loud. “I try to do something nice for my familiar after he rescues us, and I get the tellings off for it!”

Guillermo gave him a flat, I’m-not-dealing-with-this-shit-right-now stare and unzipped the bag. He shifted around piles of fabric, trying to make out what was what. Eventually he sighed in exasperation.

“Nandor, these are  _ your _ clothes.”

“I did not want to disturb your human nest, Guillermo,” Nandor said earnestly. “But I am thinking they will fit. I chose the pants with the stretchy elastos.” He demonstrated by hooking his thumbs in his own tight trousers and pulling.

“Elastic,” Guillermo corrected.

“And there is a mouth brush I found in the bathroom, and a comb. The mouth brush had a hair on it but I pulled it off. Silly Guillermo, you cannot possibly brush all those curls with a mouth brush. There was also a spray in the bathroom so you can smell nice. And I even packed you a cape to use as a blanket or even just so you can look fancy, if you want to.” He straightened his shoulders a little haughtily at that. This was probably the closest he’d ever get to an apology, yet Guillermo couldn’t help the smile and amused half-snort. His cheeks were defying the cold and heating up into a nice, rosy blush. At least it kept his face warm.

He felt the can in the bag and raised an eyebrow. He took it out, squinted at the label, and then started laughing in truth. It was air freshener **.** _Sensual Sandalwood & Jasmine_.

“Thank you, Nandor,” he said, struggling to keep a straight face as the vampire’s expression changed from satisfied to chagrined. Guillermo pushed the bag onto the platform and climbed back up to sit. Perched at this height, he was slightly taller than Nandor, and if he leaned over a little, their noses would touch. He didn’t realise he was staring at the vampire until Nandor’s words shook him out of his reverie.

“One vampire guy,” he said. Guillermo groaned inwardly; he was hoping Nandor hadn’t heard that little annotation. “Guillermo, I’m sorry but…the vampire you have on your wall, Armando or Armadillo or whatever his name is. He is not a real vampire.”

“Oh my God, Nandor. You really can’t be that stupid,” Guillermo muttered thoughtlessly.

“Hey!” Nandor growled. “G-word, Guillermo!” But his face softened just then and his lips stretched into a dumb, beaming grin. Guillermo wondered if the vampire could see just how red his face was. No doubt he could hear his heart galloping thunderously in his sensitive ears. Guillermo himself could hear it, and he was sure the rate at which it beat was not healthy.

Nandor’s grin suddenly faded, and his eyes got very big. He looked away bashfully. “Guillermo, while I was flying home, I was thinking even in my little bat thoughts…that I have not been a good master.”

Guillermo’s stomach clenched, and he rushed to say, “That’s not…” but trailed off. No more lying. No more acting – or  _ thinking _ that everything was peachy when it was not. Nandor had not been a good master. Relatively speaking, he was probably kinder than most other vampires when it came to human familiars, but Guillermo’s quality of living these past eleven years was nothing to envy.

“No, it  _ is _ true, Guillermo,” Nandor insisted, ever presumptuous. “You have been risking your life for us tonight, and since…?” He raised an eyebrow expectantly. Guillermo swallowed a hard lump in his throat.

“Since the Baron’s death,” he mumbled. Now it was his turn to look sheepishly away.

“ _ Guillermo _ .” Nandor shook his head. It was a gentle admonishment, but Guillermo still flinched. He didn’t need to be told off again tonight for keeping secrets. Thankfully Nandor did not goad any further. The next words that came out of his mouth were surprising, to say the least. Nandor took a deep breath and muttered, “I hereby relieve you of your duties.”

Guillermo hadn’t handed in a resignation letter, but he’d just as good as quit when he’d left the house last week. He decided not to upset Nandor with this small detail, and instead gave a little nod and an even smaller smile.

“Thank you, Nandor.”

Nandor put up a hand. “ _ Also _ .” He paused, and an array of emotions flittered over his face – worry, fear, uncertainty, abashment – and Guillermo waited patiently for him to find his next words. “I was also thinking,” Nandor continued, slowly. “That maybe…maybe it is time that…” He looked down at his hands, as if they would give him the rest of the sentence. Guillermo’s heart was in his throat, somehow beating even faster now. Even if he wanted to speak, to hurry the vampire along, there was no way his voice would make it around that lump. Nandor finally looked at him again, but his face was now lined with helplessness. “Maybe it is time that I made good on my promise to you.”

Perhaps it was all the empty promises over the years, or the tentative hope in Nandor’s eyes, that made Guillermo’s stomach drop. Tears sprung to his eyes, and he found himself absently feeling for the vampire’s hand. Nandor reciprocated, much to his surprise; taking Guillermo’s hand and holding it carefully, as if the human were a fragile thing that might break.

“Thank you, Nandor,” he repeated, rather stupidly, gazing at their intertwined hands as though they were prized sculptures. He gave a little one-sided shrug, accompanied by an even littler smile. “But I’m…I’m not sure being a vampire is in the books for me now.” He hazarded a glance up at his ex-master, and his smile wavered.

Nandor’s face had taken on an intensity he usually reserved for great befuddlement: small frown, lowered brow, piercing gaze, twitching jaw. Guillermo stayed quiet, waiting with bated breath for the vampire to respond; to react in some way.

“You don’t want to…?” he mumbled finally, trailing off, as if still unable to completely comprehend what he’d just heard.

Guillermo swallowed more tears and shook his head, suddenly too afraid to speak.

“Oh…” Nandor slid his hand away, and Guillermo’s heart plunged.

Panic gripped at him, and the tears spilled over onto his cheeks and he groped for Nandor’s hand blindly. “ _ Nandor _ , I still—”  _ I still love you. I still want you,  _ his head finished for him, the words unable to form on his tongue.  _ Can’t things just go back to how they were before? Before the council and the assassins and the vampire-slaying?  _ If the supernatural existed, if vampires were allowed to live for so long, then why couldn’t they go back? Why was that impossible, when the world was secretly full of magic and necromancy and mythical creatures? It was unfair.

If he’d never found out about his heritage; if the name Van Helsing hadn’t become an integral part of his life and his destiny and the backbone of every anxious thought and every surge of confidence he’d felt over the past year, then he knew he’d be on his knees right now, begging Nandor to turn him.

_ I just want to go back to before… _

Guillermo cupped Nandor’s cheek in the palm of his hand. The action was visceral, involuntary, unexpected for them both. He slid a thumb down the vampire’s cheek and felt a wetness that he couldn’t see in the dark. As if reading Guillermo’s own motives, Nandor let out an unnecessary, shaky breath. He closed his eyes and leaned forward. Slowly, with great caution, Guillermo planted feather-light kisses over each of Nandor’s eyelids, across each moist cheek. He allowed his nose to trail up Nandor’s cheek, both of them shivering at the touch, before planting a slightly firmer kiss on his forehead.

He pulled away, and Nandor stepped back, snapping his head away and forcing Guillermo to drop his hand. The vampire wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“I don’t think I’d make a good vampire,” Guillermo explained quietly, trying to smile. “I’m too good at killing them. I’d fall on a stake within—”

“Within what?” Nandor interrupted curtly, gesturing vaguely in the air. “Fifty years? Because that is only how long you have left if you are human, Guillermo. No…less, probably…because you are weak. You are a weak human.” He made a little blubbering noise and turned away, trying to hide his face. His eyes were shining with moisture.

Guillermo sighed. This was what he’d been afraid of, from the moment Nandor uttered his offer. His own response had come a little too easily for somebody who had spent over a decade banking desperately on this promise; for somebody who had all but given up on the prospect and thus had not given much thought to what it would do to his ancestry. Maybe it wouldn’t do anything. Yet refusing him, and embracing his fate as a vampire slayer, just felt  _ right _ . Intuitive. It didn’t require any thought.

“Nandor,” he said gently, “there are other ways to achieve immortality. If that’s what I want.”

“How?” Nandor asked.

“We’ll talk about it another time,” Guillermo said quickly, blushing. He decided now wasn’t the best time to divulge that information, but, well, he’d learnt a thing or two from the witches. “There’s a lot we need to talk about. A lot that needs to change…”

“And what do you mean about not wanting to live forever, Guillermo? Why would you want to just be a normal human with his shitty sixty years of life?”

“ _ Nandor _ ,” Guillermo groaned impatiently. He grabbed the vampire’s sleeve and gave it a little tug, eliciting a strange whimper from Nandor. The vampire partly lost his footing and all but barrelled into him, and suddenly Guillermo’s arms were around his waist and pulling him in closer, snaking a hand up the back of his head and gently guiding it down to rest against the crook of his neck. It was meant as a gesture of love, but later, when Nandor and Guillermo would become more comfortable in their new relationship, Nandor would tease Guillermo about it and tell him it was a power move. “Saying to a vampire that he cannot eat you, and then shoving his nose in your neck? Very unmannerly, Guillermo!”

That new relationship was something for the future, though; something that neither human nor vampire even considered on this night. They were exhausted, hurt, emotional. The words that would later come easily to them were as distant as the stars right now; as cryptic as a lost language. But they held each other for a long time, buried in each other’s scents and each other’s feelings just as much as they were buried in each other’s arms.

And when Nandor placed the softest of kisses to his shoulder, evoking an electric shock that fizzed through him from head to toe, Guillermo knew things would be okay.


End file.
